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Bookkeeping Machines

National

In 1902 St. Louis patent attorney Halcolm Ellis and mechanical engineer Nathan W. Perkins, Jr. took out a patent for an adding machine. Ellis then patented a combination adding machine and typewriter, and tried to manufacture it in Massachusetts. When his funds dried up, he returned to St. Louis and organized the Ellis Adding-Typewriter Company. The firm soon moved to New Jersey, with Perkins managing the company’s engineering division. By 1911, it was selling the Ellis adding typewriter.

The Inventions Department at National Cash Register Company developed the firm’s first bookkeeping machine, the NCR Class 2000. It went on the market in the early 1920s. While some customers used it, the machine lacked a typewriter that could describe transactions in detail. In 1928 NCR purchased rights to the Ellis adding typewriter. It soon introduced the successful Class 3000 bookkeeping machine.

NCR expanded its offerings in 1943, when it purchased the Allen Wales Company in 1943. Allen Wales offered a much less expensive bookkeeping machine, as well as an adding machine. Modifications of these machines would sell even after the introduction of NCR’s first electronic accounting machines in the mid-1950s.

Several prominent inventors of adding machines had associations with St. Louis.Two of them were patent attorney Halcolm Ellis and mechanical engineer Nathan W. Perkins Jr. In 1902 they took out a patent for an adding machine. Although this machine apparently was never produced, Ellis then patented a combination adding machine and typewriter, and tried to manufacture it in Massachusetts. When his funds dried up, Eillis returned to St. Louis and organized the Ellis Adding-Typewriter Company. The firm soon moved to New Jersey, with Perkins managing the engineering division of the company. By 1911 a modified, electrically powered Ellis adding typewriter was tried at four banks

This is a slightly later machine. It has a metal frame and glass sides. The typewriter keyboard is at the front, with a full-keyboard, nine-column adding machine at the middle. Both the typewriter and the adding machine have plastic keys. The typewriter has no “1” key. The keyboard under the adding machine is covered with green felt. Four function keys are to the left of the adding machine keyboard.

Behind is a wide carriage with two-colored ribbon. The spools for the ribbon are uncovered. The crank for operating the adding machine is on the right side and has an ivory handle. The machine was used in the office at the Ellis Plant in Newark, N.J.

By 1929, Ellis was in financial difficulties. The assets of the company were acquired by National Cash Register Company, and the typing feature of Ellis machines was incorporated into the NCR 3000 accounting machine.

References:

Halcolm Ellis, “The Process of Assembling a Small and Intricate Machine,” Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 33 (1911), pp. 211–231.

By 1921 the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, dominated the cash register business in the United States. That year, it expanded its offerings to include a form of register, called the Class 2000, that could accumulate up to twenty-seven individual totals and three grand totals. The results of this accounting machine were printed both on a proof sheet inside and by one or more printing mechanisms at the front. Versions of the machine were designed for a variety of stores, banks, hotels ,and offices. Machines were individually built to order.

This example of the machine dates from the 1930s. It has a metal case, mechanism, and stand. The case and stand are painted black. The printing mechanism is at the front left and has space to print two forms simultaneously. A set of three rows of eight keys, numbered from 1 to 24 and located at the front left, determines the line on which a number will print on a form.

The back part of the case is rounded like a contemporary cash register. It has a set of six columns of black and white plastic digit keys on the right, which are designed for entering identification numbers.

At the center left are seven columns of color-coded keys for entering numbers, with nine keys in each column. Between these sets of keys are a motor bar, a lever which can be set according to the operation to be performed, and three partial columns of function keys. Left of the digit keys are two columns showing the results accumulated in 15 different registers. Left of this is an on-off switch. The machine is shown in one photograph with an operating crank on the right side. It also has an electric cord and a plastic cover.

A mark at the center front reads: National. A metal tag at the front left reads: 2-13304 (/) A2157(64UP).

According to notes in the accession file, this device was built for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Beneficial and Relief Association.

Compare MA*334904.

References:

Business Machines and Equipment Digest, 1928, Section 8.

NCR News, 1924 (there are articles about the development of the Class 2000 in the May, June, July/August, September and October issues).

By the late 1920s, the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, was convinced that its customers wanted an accounting machine that could print not only a few symbols but a full range of text. To satisfy this demand, it purchased the Ellis Adding-Typewriter Company of Newark, New Jersey, maker of a combination adding machine and typewriter (see MA*323497). Using Ellis patents, NCR developed its first “hybrid” product that relied on an entire machine developed by another company. The result was the NCR Class 3000 bookkeeping machine. Two examples were installed in Dayton banks in early 1929. This later example is from 1939.

The machine has a metal case painted black and green. It has a QWERTY typewriter keyboard at the front, with four rows of keys and a space bar. Only uppercase letters and numbers are shown. Behind this is a 9x9 full-keyboard adding machine, with nine columns of color-coded plastic keys. Several function keys are on the left, and operating bars are on the right.

Behind the typewriter is the two-colored ribbon and the printing mechanism for both the typewriter and the adding machine, with a wide rubber carriage behind this. Across the machine - above the keyboard and in front of the typewriter ribbon - is a serrated metal rod with seven metal pieces that slide along it. The entire machine sits on a metal frame with a wooden drop leaf. The motor is under the machine on the stand. The dimensions include the stand but not the drop leaf.

During the years immediately following World War II, demand for National Cash Register products boomed. In late 1949 the company introduced a new line of accounting machines, successors to the class 2000 and class 3000. It included the Class 31 and Class 32. This is an NCR Class 31 machine from 1952.

The machine combines an electric typewriter at the front with an adding machine in the center. The adding machine has ten columns of digit keys and four columns of keys for indicating dates and types of transactions to the left of these. It has diverse function keys and bars.

A wide variety of forms could be fed through the carriage at the back of the machine and printed out. A serrated metal bar is in front of the wide carriage and has 20-odd plastic and metal pieces clipped to it. Two other bars and a cover are loose with the machine.

A mark above the typewriter keyboard reads: National. A metal label on the right side reads: 5025100 (/) SP-RB (/) 31-10-10(18)26. The first part of this mark is the serial number. The phrase “SP-RB” indicates that the machine has a split platen and an extra removable bar. The next numbers indicate that the machine is a Class 31 capable of printing ten totals and ten amount rows. The 18 signifies the style of the machine — one with a keyboard dater with months, days and years; five year and four symbol keys in row 11; and a typewriter keyboard.

Accounting machines were used to prepare monthly statements, type checks, record payroll, and do general ledger work. This example was used at the Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C.

The machine combines the capabilities of a printing adding machine with the ability to print a few letters. It is a modification of the Allen Wales adding machine produced after the National Cash Register Company had acquired that company.

The device has a gray-brown metal case and nine columns of green and white color-coded plastic number keys. Odd-numbered keys are concave, even numbered keys, flat. Immediately to the right of these keys is a column of red keys marked with letters designating the significance of the number entered (e.g. one key reads “TX”, perhaps for designating taxes). To the right of the keyboard is a lever, and, to its right, a column of four function bars and keys. To the left of the keyboard are four other function keys. Above the keyboard is a row of nine openings under a glass cover.The openings show digits in the total. Behind this result window are two metal levers, one for tabs and the other for non-printing.

Behind the openings is the printing mechanism, with a red and black ribbon. The spools of the ribbon are under metal covers that are screwed in place. The mechanism includes a set of five wheels that can be set to a date. Behind these is a sheet of clear plastic, the carriage, and the narrow paper tape. The carriage is 39 cm. (15 1/4”) across, and divided into two parts. The narrow section on the left side takes a narrow paper tape, which is 6 cm. (2 1/2”) wide and is turned by a wheel on the left. The wider section on the right side takes pieces of paper and apparently was used to enter both figures and the date. The machine has a rubber cord and four rubber feet.

A tag on the front of the machine reads: 158 552366. A mark on the back of the machine reads: MANUFACTURED BY (/) THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY (/) OF DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A.. AT ITS (/) MANUFACTURING DIVISION (/) AT ITHACA, N.Y., U.S.A.

During the years immediately following World War II, demand for National Cash Register products boomed. In late 1949, the company introduced a new line of accounting machines, successors to the class 2000 and class 3000. It included the Class 31 and Class 32. This is an NCR Class 32 machine from 1959.

The machine combines an electric typewriter at the front with an adding machine in the center. The adding machine has eleven columns of digit keys and three columns of keys for indicating dates to the left of these. It has a variety of function keys and bars. A mark above the typewriter keyboard reads: National. A metal label reads:

6073226 (/) SP-WD-26 (/) 32-W-10-11 (/) 38X - DP. The first number of this mark is the serial number. Other portions of this mark refer to features of the machine — a split paten, a wheel dater, and a protective dollar printing feature.

Behind the adding machine is a wide carriage that would accommodate one or more forms.

The machine is on a metal stand with rubber feet.

Accounting machines were used to prepare monthly statements, type checks, record payroll and do general ledger work. This example was used at the Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C.

This is a relatively late example of an NCR Class 2000 accounting machine built for department store use. NCR had introduced the Class 2000 as a way to register several totals in 1921. From the mid-1950s, it was gradually be replaced by electronic accounting machines.

The machine has a ferrous metal case and metal mechanism. The printing mechanism is at the front left and has space to print two forms simultaneously. Paper is in one of these spaces. A set of three rows of numbered keys at the front left determines the line on which a number will print on a form. These keys are numbered from 1 to 21.

The back part of the case is rounded like a cash register. It has a set of six columns of plastic keys on the right, which are designed for entering identification numbers. The leftmost column is lettered from A to K (top to bottom). The five other columns have the digit keys from 0 to 9, going up. At the center left are six columns of keys for entering numbers, with nine keys in each column. Between these sets of keys are a motor bar, a lever that can be set according to the operation to be performed, and three partial columns of function keys. Left of the digit keys are two columns showing the results accumulated in several different registers. The machine has a keyhole with key.The electric cord is at the back.

A mark at the center front reads: National. A tag at the front left reads: 6101190 (/) A2146 (64UP). A mark on the center front at the base reads: The National Cash Register Co. (/) DAYTON, OHIO, U.S.A.

This machine was used at the Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C.